Global Ecology and Unequal Exchange - NIP: Fetishism in a Zero-Sum World

'Writing with clarity and analytical focus, Alf Hornborg takes on our most serious problems today: the degradation of the environment and the unequal distribution of wealth. Going beyond the usual stories about equal exchange, he shows how resources from labor to energy are unequally transferred across the globe to the detriment of the environment and equity: our narratives about the benefits of growth and efficiency hide the realities of human and material debasement. Drawing on anthropology, Hornborg persuasively argues that by distinguishing money's several purposes through issuing multiple currencies, and by adjusting our tax and subsidy policies, we may reduce our footprints and cope more sensibly'. - Stephen Gudeman, University of Minnesota, USA "We view technology as akin to magic, creating value from nothing. Blending culture and ecological economics, Alf Hornborg shows that technical development is actually a zero-sum game. Technology transfers assets between countries, producing wealth in some regions while imposing labor and environmental costs elsewhere. All the while, money makes material resources invisible. Civilization, concludes Hornborg, has been built on the displacement of environmental damage. This book should be read by all persons concerned with technology, development, and trade". - Joseph Tainter, Utah State University, USA This is a wonderful volume on world historical ecology [...] Ecological degradation and the race for natural resources has played a central role in human socio-cultural evolution for millennia and in the capitalist world-system for centuries. This book helps us to understand the human past and to devise a collectively rational future. - Christopher Chase-Dunn, University of California, Riverside, USA